Airbnb Alternatives in Canada Hosts Should Consider

Airbnb is a popular online marketplace that connects hosts and travelers from all over the world. Many property owners in Canada start on Airbnb to rent out their homes to short-term rental guests and earn extra income.

Although Airbnb dominates the vacation rental market with nearly a 20% share, it’s not the only OTA platform you can use to market your home or apartment. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some Airbnb alternatives in Canada so that you can find options that work for you.

You may also want to check out our blog post, which discusses taxes you must pay when operating Airbnb in Canada.

Airbnb Alternatives for Hosts in Canada

If you want to build a sustainable STR business, you shouldn’t rely only on Airbnb to showcase your rental space to potential guests and convert them into bookings. You need to consider other online channels to broaden your reach and maximize your occupancy rate.

Managing listings on multiple platforms requires more work and a significant time commitment if you do everything manually. That’s why savvy hosts use short-term rental software like Hospitable, which allows them to automate 90% of repetitive tasks, making their business more efficient.

Now let’s look at Airbnb alternatives in Canada—online booking platforms popular among STR hosts and travelers.

Vrbo

Owned by the Expedia Group, Vrbo boasts over 2 million listings in more than 190 countries, attracting millions of visitors each month. This vacation rental booking platform can be an excellent alternative to Airbnb if you want to target large groups, families with children, or both. But remember that, unlike Airbnb, Vrbo focuses on entire properties and doesn’t allow homeowners to list private rooms and shared spaces.

Vrbo offers two pricing models for hosts: pay-per-booking fees or an annual subscription, which costs a one-time flat fee of $499 paid in advance. However, most hosts use the pay-per-booking listing model, which involves paying a booking fee consisting of a 3% payment processing fee and a 5% commission fee.

Booking.com

Booking.com is one of the largest online travel agencies in the world, offering a global reach. In the past, it was known as a platform for hotels and luxury resorts, but now it also allows property owners to list vacation rentals. Booking.com has more than 6.6 million listings for private vacation homes, apartments, cottages, cabins, villas, glamping, boats, farm stays, country houses, self-catering accommodations, and more.

Hosts and property managers who use Booking.com are charged commission fees based on the total booking value. On average, Booking.com host fees are 15%, but they may vary depending on the location, property type, cancellation policy, and more.

You may want to check out our article, which talks about the Booking.com pros and cons for hosts to better understand what to expect if you decide to list your property on this website.

Listing your property on Vrbo and Booking.com, two significant players in the vacation rental market, will increase your visibility, diversify your revenue sources, and potentially lead to more bookings. But you’ll need to pay hefty fees comparable to Airbnb service fees in Canada. 

You can’t avoid OTA fees entirely, but you can reduce their impact on your bottom line by creating a direct booking website with Hospitable and focusing on building relationships with loyal, repeat guests.

Google Vacation Rentals

Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) is a part of the Google Travel platform that helps travelers search and book flights and accommodations for their trips through the search engine.

Google Vacation Rentals functionality enables users to discover short-term rental properties that match their preferences when searching for a place to stay on Google or Google Maps. Guests can also browse the Vacation Rentals tab in Google Travel to find the most relevant properties based on the chosen criteria.

Google Vacation Rentals isn’t an OTA, so when travelers want to book a listing, they will be redirected to the partner’s website to complete the booking process and pay. Since Google is a free service, it doesn’t require a commission for bookings made through the GVR platform.

Google Vacation Rentals is an excellent additional distribution channel for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to showcase your home in Canada to many travelers who can become your potential guests. Although you can’t sign up to use the service as an individual host, you can easily get listed with the help of an official partner, such as Hospitable.

If you build your direct booking website with Hospitable Direct, we’ll list your properties on Google Vacation Rentals, and you’ll be able to get direct bookings without paying high third-party fees.

Expedia

When searching for vacation rentals, Expedia is often not the first website that comes to mind. That’s why many STR hosts often ignore it. Still, listing your home on Expedia might help you edge out the competition, so you can consider it as a possible alternative to Airbnb.

Hosts and property owners are charged a commission for each booking made on the Expedia platform. The commission rates range from 15% to 20% or more in some cases. The exact percentage can vary based on several factors, including the property's location, size, type, and booking volume. Expedia’s standard commission can also fluctuate, depending on your specific agreement with Expedia.

Hipcamp

Hipcamp is an online booking platform for glamping, camping, and outdoor stays that attracts travelers who like spending time in nature. It works in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Spain, and France, and boasts over 7 million users.

The platform is built on a mission to get more people outside, so if you own an off-grid cabin in the mountains, a treehouse in the woods, or a vacation rental that is a part of the working farm, you may consider listing your property there to earn extra income.

You can list your property for free, and Hipcamp only takes a commission when you start getting bookings. The commission fee varies depending on several factors and is automatically deducted, clearly shown on the host’s payout statements.

As a niche website that focuses on unique outdoor stays, Hipcamp can be a valuable option as an additional distribution channel, allowing you to extend your reach and connect with nature enthusiasts. And if you opt for Hospitable, our STR super app will help you sync your Hipcamp booking calendar with other booking channels using iCal imports, preventing double bookings.

Hospitable supports iCal imports from different niche platforms, including Expedia and Hopper app. Simply copy and paste an iCal import link from your booking platform, and Hospitable will automatically pull bookings from it every hour. Watch this explainer video to learn how this functionality works, and check out our help article for more details.  

Final Though

Airbnb is often the OTA platform of choice for people just starting a vacation rental business. Still, it’s far from the only worthwhile option you should consider when listing your property. Numerous Airbnb alternatives provide Canadian hosts with opportunities to market their rental spaces to a global audience and diversify their revenue streams.

To reach more travelers and attract more guests to your home or apartment, you should list it on major OTA platforms, such as Booking.com and Vrbo. You should also have a beautiful and functional direct booking website to help you build positive relationships with guests and get repeat direct bookings.